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Do What U Want (song)
|DS = |album = |previous = MANiCURE |next = ARTPOP }} "Do What U Want" is a song by Lady Gaga and R. Kelly from her fourth studio album, ARTPOP; it appears as the seventh track on the album. The song was written by Lady Gaga, DJ White Shadow, R. Kelly, Martin Bresso and DJ Snake between 2012 and 2013. The song was registered on Gaga's BMI on November 5, 2013. The name and part of the lyrics were first revealed via Twitter by Gaga on September 21, 2013. On October 16th, Gaga confirmed that the track would be released as a promotional single on October 21, 2013 in the United States and October 22, 2013 worldwide. The same day, Gaga confirmed that due to the positive commercial response upon the song's release, "Do What U Want" would be replacing "Venus" as the album's second single. A music video for "Do What U Want" was shot on November 4, 2013 by photographer and director Terry Richardson. The video has not been released as of now. Background During the recording process of the album, DJ White Shadow requested the assistance of one of his friends from Chicago, Martin Bresso. One of the beats he gave him was a groove that he created in 2010 for a remix project that ended up being shelved. The beat was then reworked by Gaga and DJ White Shadow in 2012 when they had started writing the song on the tour bus in Europe. According to Gaga, she started writing the song in Chicago and finished it on a airplane to Milan in October 2012. She felt the groove could be used for many different things but ended writing a R&B song to it. At the time, she wasn't sure the song would be taken seriously as she had never written a true R&B song before. One of her previous attempts at a R&B song was an unreleased song written in 2008 titled "Second Time Around". Part of the recording process took place in Chicago, Gaga explained that she was influenced by the R&B and hip hop music scene of the city. According to DJ White Shadow, the song "kinda stayed on a back burner for a minute" until September 2013. He discussed the song with Gaga and he described the conversation as followed: “''I was like ‘You know who would sound good on this? R. Kelly’ and she said ‘Yes!’ So I called him up and put them on the phone together literally like 10 minutes later. Then we just made it happen. It is two writing/singing geniuses on one track. Seemed logical to me.” Gaga explained that since she was also living in Chicago at that time and that both Paul and R. Kelly are from Chicago that it was a logical choice for Kelly to be involved. Gaga's insecurity regarding the genre of the song vanished when she received R. Kelly's "blessing" since he is regarded to by some as the "king of R&B". She also said that the press often printed lies about him which they also do to her and that the song was perfect for them. Before meeting him, Gaga revealed that she always been fan of his and that "''it is like an epic pastime in the Haus of Gaga that we just get fucked up and play R. Kelly." Asked about the collaboration, R. Kelly revealed that before meeting Gaga, he had a preconceived notion of the singer being "locked into her character" and she would not "give a damn about what anybody have to say about it". However when he came to know about Gaga's determination and her artistry, Kelly was impressed and described the collaboration as "natural jelling". Inspiration For a Sirius XM track-by-track album overview in 2013, Gaga revealed that the lyrics are actually about two things. The first is about her "obession with the way people the media view her" and that she accepts giving her body to the media as long as she can keep her minds and heart to herself and her fans. The second meaning is about how she feels now in her life sexually as a woman. She explained that the greatest gift you can offer to the man that you love is to say: "do what you want with my body, I don't care". It's a sign of sexual freedom and that she feels good enough about herself to be able to let it go and just enjoy the moment. The song was mainly inspired by a media backlash in late September to October of 2012 due to her recent weight gain. Pictures taken during shows of the Born This Way Ball were posted in various media where Gaga is seen to have putting on weight. Gaga's mother soon caller her when she heard it on the news to discuss the matter with her. At first, Gaga didn't believe her mother and thought it was extremely shallow to discuss her weight in the news when wars, famine and illness are happening in the world. In the past, she has been vocal about her body issues and addiction to drugs which could be the cause of her weight gain. The real problem however was her then unidentified hip injury which made her swollen and her frequent drug use to ease the pain. Gaga then decided to write a song that would take a stance on such incidents and she would dictate whatever she wants to portray instead of being transparent in front of the world. On Sirius XM, Gaga explained that in general, she found the media more and more invasive and critical to her as she became more famous. This lead her to the realization that they, the media, can do what they want with her body, which she described a her vessel for her music and her record, but they can't touch her heart nor her minds which is the parts she gets to keep for herself and her fans. A Body Revolution 2013 : Main article: The Born This Way Foundation Around the same time Gaga's weight gain became news in the media, Gaga decided to turn the media scrutiny on her body into something more positive and self-empowerment. Thus, she created on September 25, 2013 "A Body Revolution 2013" which debuted with Gaga and Tara posting pictures of herself embracing her curves and insecurities. She then encouraged her fans to do the same on Little Monsters so they could all became brave together. Composition Musically the song is a synthpop and R&B track containing '80s throbbing synths and an electronic beat. Asked in interview to MTV, DJ White Shadow described the sound of the song as being "some space age George Jetson R&B." According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Do What U Want" is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A major with Gaga's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of E3 to F♯5. The song follows a basic sequence of D–E–F♯m–E–D–E as its chord progression. Recording For the recording of the song, Gaga brought new collaborators that were mixed with people she had worked with in the past. Previous collaborators included DJ Snake, who contributed to the production of "Government Hooker" in 2010, recording engineer and mixer Dave Russell, who worked on the majority of her songs since 2008 and Bill Malina, who also assisted recording in 2011 for "Born This Way". The newcomers were Tim Steward, Gaga's guitarist for the Born This Way Ball along with Martin Bresso and Dino Zisis who contributed to the music. The song was recorded between 2012 to 2013 at Record Plant in Hollywood, California, USA. The production was done by DJ White Shadow and Gaga with additional contribution by Martin Bresso and DJ Snake. R. Kelly vocals were recorded during his recording sessions for "Black Panties" at Patchwerk Studios in Atlanta. For his vocals, Kelly used his own team consisting of Donnie Lyle, his musical director and engineers Abei Garibaldi and Ian Mereness. Table Publishing Stefani Germanotta P/K/A Lady Gaga (BMI) Sony ATV Songs LLC / Haus of Gaga Publishing, LLC / GloJoe Music Inc. (BMI), Maxwell and Carter Publishing, LLC (ASCAP), Administered by Universal Music Publishing Group, Etrange Fruit (SACEM), Fuzion (SACEM), Administered by Get Familiar Music (ASCAP), R. Kelly Publishing Inc. / Universal Music – Z Music LLC (BMI) Release A snippet of "Do What U Want" (feat. R. Kelly) was first heard on a Best Buy commercial ("Beats Blue Studio") for Beats on October 17, 2013. Before the release, Gaga hinted at the commercial on October 15, 2013: "there MAY be a snippet of certain LADY GAGA R KELLY JAM in a @beatsbydre commercial thurs #ARTPOPsnippetDoWhatUWant R KELLY IS ON ARTPOP". The ad created by Wunderman agency featured John Wall, a NBA player and actor Azim Rzik as the Best Buy vendor. The track was made available early on the iTunes Store ahead of the full release of ARTPOP. "Do What U Want" was released as the album's second single on Amazon.com on October 21, 2013. It was also used in "Balloon", a commercial for UK mobile company O2 as part of the "Be More Dog" campaign. The commercial was shot on October 18, 2013 in the United States and direct by David Wilson for agency VCCP London. Single On October 16th, Gaga confirmed that this track is going to be a promotional single. It was released on October 21, 2013 in the United States and on October 22, 2013 worldwide. The same day, Gaga confirmed that due to the positive commercial response upon the song's release, "Do What U Want" would be replacing "Venus" as the album's second single, with Gaga planning to release "Venus" on October 27, as originally planned, though as a promotional single. An EP of remixes was released digitally on February 25, 2014. The night before the song's release, Gaga took to Twitter to publicly and controversially address her critics. She included lyrics from "Do What U Want" with each tweet, and spoke about gossip that has surfaced throughout her career, including rumors of the singer being a hermaphrodite, gaining weight in 2012, as well as her drug addiction. Other subjects addressed included the negative comparisons between Gaga and Madonna, and the media pitting the singer against fellow pop musician Katy Perry, when Gaga's single "Applause" and Perry's "Roar" were released within days of each other. Artwork Gaga tweeted the covert art for "Do What U Want" on October 18, 2013. It follows the same design aesthetic started with the "Applause" cover. This time around, photographer Terry Richardson, took the picture of Gaga's ass and handwrote the text. The photograph was taken a day earlier. In an interview with German television station ProSieben, Gaga said that the reason for choosing the explicit picture was her belief that the general public did not value art and would commercialize it, which she did not fancy. So the picture of her buttocks was a form of statement from Gaga that it was "just another piece of ass for you to buy. You will not have my heart or mind, because you don't deserve it. I would give it to my fans because they would received it with love... When I look at how society has changed, I feel like this is a good time to show you my ass, because its all I choose to give you." A censored version of the cover featuring a pale mauve coloured skirt edited over the top of Gaga's buttocks was used in selected countries in the Middle East. Do What U Want cover.jpg|''Official single cover artwork'' Do What U Want Censored clean cover.jpg|''Censored cover'' *Photography — Terry Richardson *Hair stylist — Frederic Aspiras *Model — Lady Gaga *Outfit — "Rosie" print thong by Hanky Panky Remixes & alternate versions Non R. Kelly version Although the album version features R. Kelly, the original version featured only Gaga's vocals. Lyrics from the original solo version were posted on January 26, 2013 by Gaga via her Twitter: "My bones hurt from all the shows But I dont feel the pain cuz Im a pro I sink in then Im ok cuz my body belongs to u when Im on stage." The original solo version was used during a promotional video for the 2013 opening of a H&M store in Times Square. For the majority of the live performances of the single, Gaga sang the solo version. The solo version was also used as the base for the duet with Christina Aguilera. In April of 2014, a couple of radio compilations of songs included "Do What U Want" (Non R. Kelly Version, 3:37).http://itunes.apple.com/es/album/do-what-u-want-non-r.-kelly/id847154170?i=847154362 Table DJWS Remix (feat. R. Kelly & Rick Ross) Gaga announced on Twitter on November 29 that: "Do What U Want the Remix feat. RICK ROSS. It's happening." The remix was produced by DJ White Shadow. Ross told in an interview with MTV that he was not prepared for collaborating with Gaga and that is was her team that contacted him about the collaboration. It was released on December 20, 2013. The remix starts with Kelly's vocals with a new introduction, followed by Ross rapping on a verse, adding new lines like "Photos of the Bawse just to post 'em on a blog/Get alotta views cause they know we be the top/Jean Basquiats in the hall, she my work of art so I pin her to the wall." The artwork for the song is the same as the original single cover, with Rick Ross' name added to the bottom. Remix feat. Christina Aguilera Prior to the announcement of Gaga's performance on The Voice, producer DJ White Shadow got a tweet by a fan on November 25, 2013, requesting a remix of either "Do What U Want" or "Sexxx Dreams" with Christina Aguilera. He replied "wouldn't that be fun? I'll ask." Gaga's performance was confirmed for The Voice on December 12, 2013. After the performance, Carson Daly asked how the collaboration came about, which Gaga replied with: "I was really excited because The Voice called and said they wanted me to perform on the finale, and I obviously can't refuse. Such an amazing show! And I said 'I want to know if Christina wants to do it with me'" After Gaga and Aguilera performed "Do What U Want" on the December 17 finale of The Voice, Aguilera recorded her portion of the revamped single in the days before Christmas. On December 24, 2013, Aguilera posted on her social media accounts the following sentence: "Working on something special... Happy Holidays to all!! XoXtina" with a photograph of herself in a recording studio. For an article for Billboard, Interscope head of sales, Gary Kelly, explained that they wanted to release the song sooner but "by the time it was mastered and approved, iTunes was shut down—they weren't accepting any products." This led them to release it on all virtual stores on January 1, 2014. The artwork keep the original layout but with a photograph of Christina and Gaga performing on The Voice finale. It was taken by Trae Patton for NBC Universal Media. They used the original solo version to make the duet adding new ad-libs and the line "''What you want Lady Gaga" and "What you want with me Christina" along with a few other modifications. The instrumentation was also altered with a new drums beats added among other things. The artwork for the song features a brand new cover, with an image of Gaga and Christina performing "Do What U Want" together on The Voice. Remixes Release history Table Remixes *DJWS Remix feat. R. Kelly & Rick Ross — 4:19 *DJ White Shadow Remix feat. R. Kelly — 4:03 *Chew Fu House ReFix feat. R. Kelly — 4:04 *Samantha Ronson Remix feat. R. Kelly — 4:27 *Kronic Remix feat. R. Kelly — 5:12 *Steven Redant 'Madrid' Radio Remix feat. Christina Aguilera — 4:00 *Steven Redant 'Madrid' Club Remix feat. Christina Aguilera — 7:31 *Steven Redant 'Barcelona' Club Remix feat. Christina Aguilera — 6:28 *Red Ant & Amp Lexvas Deep House Remix feat. Christina Aguilera — 6:49 Performances Gaga performed the song for the first time on The X Factor (ITV) on October 27, 2013. She has performed the album version with R. Kelly, her original solo version and also as a duet with Christina Aguilera. Tabs Live= Table |-|Television= Table |-|Radio= Table Lyrics Music video Although Terry Richardson did the artwork for the single, his role as director was unconfirmed until November 11, 2013. On the night of the artRave, Gaga confirmed and revealed that he was indeed the director and that the video was already shot. They shot the music video on November 4, 2014 in a unknown location. This is the second video collaboration by Gaga and Terry of their yet released film they shot during the Born This Way era. During a Q&A on Twitter, Gaga revealed that the video would be a little bit longer but less than the "Marry the Night" music video. Do What U Want Video 001.JPG Do What U Want Backstage 001.jpg 10154239 255965537916472 1447092111 n.jpg 11-4-13 Terry Richardson 001.jpg|2 11-4-13 Terry Richardson 002.jpg|1 #Released via Terry Richardson's Tumblr on December 6, 2013 #Released via Terry Richardson's Tumblr on December 13, 2013 Release On November 26, 2013, BitTorrent announced that they will release a "Lady Gaga X BitTorrent Bundle" as part of their partnership with VICE media. The bundle was to include 4K footage documenting the making of the music video, photos and exclusive video interview with Lady Gaga and Richardson, led by VICE Editor-in-Chief Rocco Castoro. The original release date was December 3, 2013 on BitTorrent Bundles but was pushed back as the video needed more work. On January 6, 2014, Gaga posted a note on Little Monsters regarding the music video in which she explained the delay to some mismanagement of her schedule. However, she did not give a date nor any indication regarding the status of the music video. As of March of 2014, the third single "G.U.Y." got a music video which can be interpreted that the music video for "Do What U Want" was shelved and won't be released. References *BMI | Repertoire Background *Luis Gomez, "How R. Kelly ended up on Lady Gaga's 'Do What U Want' ", Chicago Tribune (2013) *Lorena Chouza, "Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP Track-by-Track on SiriusXM Hits 1", Sirius XM (2013) *Scott Mills, "Lady Gaga talks to Scott Mills", BBC Radio 1 (2013) *Lady Gaga, Album listening party at Berghain club, Germany on October 24, 2013 *Staff, "R. Kelly Talks Lady Gaga Collabo & 'Black Panties' Album In CRWN Series: Watch", Billboard (2013) *Staff, "Exklusiv-Interview", ProSieben (2013) Category:Songs Category:Singles Category:Music videos Category:Artpop songs Category:Artpop singles